Wort Chiller Help

[brooks56]

My wife wants to buy me a wort chiller for my birthday. I have no clue about wort chillers. If I go to my local homebrew store they sell them for about $120. I've looked at them on various websites; ebay, northern brewer, amazon, etc. Some are in the low $40 while others that appear identical are more expensive. Most of them are 3/8" tubing x 25 feet long tubing. Why such a drastic differenence in price? I'm a firm believer in you get what you pay for, but copper tubing is copper tubing, right? Is stainless better than copper? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[MTate37]

I've got a 3/8" x 50' copper immersion chiller that I need to get rid of. I was accidentally given two for Christmas. The cost was $75 from some homebrew shop in NY but at this point I'm willing to take a loss since it has been so long. Let me know if you are interested.

I don't have any experience with stainless coils so I can't speak to that, but getting the copper coil has allowed me to go up to 5+ gallon full boils.

PM me if you are interested.

 

[Moose1231]

No stainless steel. First because it will be ridiculously expensive and second because copper has a better heat conduction, hence efficiency. I normally see 3/8"x25' for around 50$. At 120$ it's a plate chiller I assume.

 

[jhurt]

You could build one pretty easily and save a few bucks in the process. I built a 1/2"x50' for about $60 all-in.

 

[Moose1231]

You could build one pretty easily and save a few bucks in the process. I built a 1/2"x50' for about $60 all-in.

Really? Copper must be cheaper where you live. Mine is similar and cost over 100 $ with the fittings and hoses

 

[brew_ny]

http://www.nybrewsupply.com/beer-ho...ort-chiller-garden-hose-fittings-12-x-50.html

just got this one I could not be happier with it, I do 13 gallon boils it cools it down to about 70 with about 35 gallons of water

20 minutes in the chest freezer and I am pitching yeast, I priced copper tubing it was cheaper to buy it

all the best

S_M

 

[roastquake]

Copper will work better, but I use a stainless and it chills 5 gallons wort do the 60s in 20 minutes in colder months. Seeing as you are in TX, consider this, in the summer (in SC) mine only gets down to the 80s by the time my chiller water collection vessel fills up. Then I move the wort to primary and finish the job with an ice-bottle bath, usually takes a few hours.

Edit: I vigorously stir against the flow while using my chiller, otherwise I'm sure it would take much longer than 20 minutes

 

[finsfan]

No stainless steel. First because it will be ridiculously expensive and second because copper has a better heat conduction, hence efficiency. I normally see 3/8"x25' for around 50$. At 120$ it's a plate chiller I assume.

stainless is not more expensive, actually copper is. I have a stainless chiller and it works great. Im sure copper chills a little faster, but a couple minutes isnt gonna hurt anything. whatever you do, go for a 50 foot chiller if you are getting an immersion chiller.

 

[JonM]

http://www.nybrewsupply.com/beer-home-brewing-equipment/wort-chillers/copper-wort-chiller-garden-hose-fittings-12-x-50.html

S_M

I have something similar and am really happy with it. And the garden hose fittings are a big plus. No worries about a vinyl hose coming loose, no worries about crushing the copper with a too-tight hose clamp, etc.

 

[MTate37]

Copper will work better, but I use a stainless and it chills 5 gallons wort do the 60s in 20 minutes in colder months. Seeing as you are in TX, consider this, in the summer (in SC) mine only gets down to the 80s by the time my chiller water collection vessel fills up. Then I move the wort to primary and finish the job with an ice-bottle bath, usually takes a few hours.

Edit: I vigorously stir against the flow while using my chiller, otherwise I'm sure it would take much longer than 20 minutes

I grabbed a small fountain pump (seems like maybe 30 GPH or so) that I stick in a cooler of ice water and just recirculate that water through the chiller and it gets me from the 80s into the mid-60s pretty quickly.

 

[Yooper]

My wife wants to buy me a wort chiller for my birthday. I have no clue about wort chillers. If I go to my local homebrew store they sell them for about $120. I've looked at them on various websites; ebay, northern brewer, amazon, etc. Some are in the low $40 while others that appear identical are more expensive. Most of them are 3/8" tubing x 25 feet long tubing. Why such a drastic differenence in price? I'm a firm believer in you get what you pay for, but copper tubing is copper tubing, right? Is stainless better than copper? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I don't know how cold your tap water is, but we spend winters on the Gulf Coast a couple of hours from San Antonio, and I think a wort chiller wouldn't be very effective for chilling if your tap water is like mine.

In the best cases, you can only chill as cool as your tap water anyway, unless you have a pond pump or something set up as a "prechiller", or still use an ice bath.

My neighbors brew, and they still stick the brewpot in a cooler full of ice because their tap water is in the 80s or higher most of the time. (I don't brew when I'm in Texas, so I go to their house for brewing!).

 

[VonAle]

I grabbed a small fountain pump (seems like maybe 30 GPH or so) that I stick in a cooler of ice water and just recirculate that water through the chiller and it gets me from the 80s into the mid-60s pretty quickly.

This is what I do too. 110 to 62 in less than 10 min.